NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for inclusive growth, which will ensure that the process of social and economic change would reach out to the marginalized sections of the population.

With an aim to reach out to millions of marginalised farmers left out of India’s booming economy, Dr. Singh’s government announced, in the last budget for the year ended March 2009, a 15 billion dollars loan waiver for small farmers who had borrowed from banks.

Even though farming supports 60 per cent of India’s 1.1 billion people, it contributes only a fifth of gross domestic product and accounts for only around 15 percent of bank credit.

“For the people in India, a message is the message of inclusive growth. But that’s a message, which is also relevant for the world as a whole. Jawaharlal Nehru used to say peace and prosperity are indivisible, so is disaster. And therefore, in this one world, which cannot be fragmented into parts, one has to ask how can we work together to ensure the process of social and economic change within our country and in the world as a whole to reach out to the most deprived, marginalized sections of the community,” Dr. Singh said after releasing a book by Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy titled, ‘A Better India A Better World’ here last evening.

Earlier, the Prime Minister said that the Indian economy would return to growth rates of eight to nine per cent as the global economy begins to recover from September.
The Indian economy, which is Asia’s third-largest economy, is expected to have grown slightly below seven per cent in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 and some private economists have said growth could be slower in the current financial year.

This compares with growth of nine per cent or more in the last three years, before the financial crisis slashed exports and moderated domestic demand. (ANI)